Montana has finally seen some sun! I don’t know why, but every year when it finally comes, it takes me by surprise. If you are thinking of moving to Montana, understand that while we do have all four seasons, but Summer and Winter really drag on and Spring and Fall seem to not exist at all some years! In Montana, we like to say,”We have 2 seasons; Winter and Construction”.

In any case, we had a scorcher the other day and a friend of mine, Jenna, and her kiddos hit the local park with water features to cool off!

The kids had a blast, but only after her little man, Brayden got over his fear of the water. Then he was all in it!

Jaeda, my 9 year old was looking “cool” in her shades.

Baby McKenna, Jenna’s daughter had fun it the water as well. Her little suit was so cute!

I love that my city put these parks with the water features in a few years back. It sure beats the turtles that sprayed water when I was a kid!

My daughter is such a budding photographer! Take a look at the picture she snapped on myself and Jenna!

I hope you are having a lot of summer fun!

If you have been reading my blog recently, you will see a little post on my breasts.
In this post I talk about how having large breasts has really given me a hard time and actually caused tremendous health issues.

Well, I have an announcement:

I will be consulting with a plastic surgeon on the 12th of July this year to talk about getting a reduction. This has been in the works for several years as I have been gathering medical evidence.

I needed to gather medical evidence for insurance purposes. I have seen several types of Doctors to address the many aspects of larger breast size in relation to my health.

~My regular provider, Sandy P. FNP has been so wonderful to me. She has gotten the ball rolling on all of this and she has been inspirational on moving forward. It is now a serious possibility because of her!

~ I saw an Orthopedic practitioner and she recommended I get a reduction because of the way my back is curving

~A chiropractor recommend it as well because of the way my neck is curving forward.

~I had a doctor several years back tell me that I needed to consider it because of skin issues I struggle with in that area.

~A Doctor of sleep medicine suggested it because I actually have trouble breathing at night because of their size

~A respiratory therapist and pulmonary doctor recommend it because I don’t actually have asthma. I just have a difficult time breathing because of the weight of them on my chest.

Did you know that breast tissue weighs approximately 1 lb for each cup size? Since I am an H, that means mine weigh 10 lbs each! That is 20 lbs on my chest all day and all night. It’s no wonder I have issues with breathing and that it is causing serious back, neck and shoulder issues.

I have to admit, although I am excited, I am scared. This is a major surgery with a very pain-filled recovery (or so I have heard).

Wish me luck on this journey. You know I will keep my blog readers informed!

I often look for great websites for kids online. I decided to compile a list and make it available to my wonderful readers!

If you are looking for a search engine that is kid friendly and safe, try KidRex.org
It is safe because it utilizes Google’s safe search feature. It is really fun looking. It looks like a kid drew the page in crayon!

If you have a school aged kiddo who struggles with multiplication, try multiplication.com
You will find fun games that help your kiddo learn the tables.

If you have a younger kiddo, let them play educational games and watch videos on PBSkids.org

Kidscom.com is chock full of fun activities to do with your kids, games, SAFE chat for kids and educational resources!

Looking for some fun educational games on an easy to use website? You gotta check out funbrain then! Not only are there games, but there are also books and comics!

Now that school is out, don’t let them lose all they learned! Introduce your kids to these fun and often educational (shhh!) sites!

picture via flickr by PictureYouth

So, if you know me in ‘real’ life, you know that I am, as some say, blessed in the chest.
Only I don’t consider it a blessing anymore.

Warning! This post is very personal and I talk about a private body part of mine. Please feel free to move on if you are sensitive to this subject.

photo via flickr by Mike Liche

I am large chested, and believe me when I say, it is cumbersome. To be exact, my breasts are a size 44 H.

There are several problems with having large breasts and I have experienced all of them, some on a very regular basis:

~Rashes under the breasts and in between in the ‘cleavage’. These rashes burn, itch and ache.

~Yeast infections in between the breasts and under. This is extremely embarrassing and very painful and hard to prevent and rid yourself of.

~Back, neck and shoulder pain. Even headaches. I have actually physical deformities in my back and neck from carrying around the girls that you can see on an x-ray.

~Breathing difficulties. You may laugh, but it’s true. I have a hard time breathing because of the weight of them both at night while I am sleeping and during the day. This was confirmed by a sleep study and blood tests as well as breathing tests to determine if it was caused by a lung disease. The ‘asthma’ I thought I had is not-I have no underlying lung issue..it is simply the weight of my breasts that causes asthma like symptoms and high levels of CO2 in my blood.

~Shoulder pain caused by the straps digging in. I have a permanent groove in my shoulder from wearing bras.

~I worry about one thing especially; my breasts make it difficult to feel for lumps because of their size and density

~besides the physical issues, there is the self esteem issues.

You may think to yourself, “How in the world could a woman with large breasts have self esteem issues about them?! Doesn’t she feel great having what all women seem to want?”

This is how a lot of people react.

But to be frank, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.

I can’t fit in most women’s tops unless I buy a significantly larger size than I should normally wear. As a teenager and young woman, the men all thought I was “easy” and the girls hated on me. It was assumed I was loose simply because of my chest size.

No matter what I wear, I have cleavage. This is terrible especially when you are as modest as I am.

People like to point out my chest size and I am often the butt of jokes.

People think they have a right to ask my chest size.

Men often stare at my breasts instead of my face when meeting me or talking to me. They think I don’t notice, but I do.

Exercising is painful. Its not only painful because I am out of shape, but its nearly impossible to buy a supportive sports bra in my size. It physically hurts to have them unsupported while exercising.

Say goodbye to cute swimsuits, cute bras (in a reasonable price range), cute tops and dresses.

That is only a SHORT list of things I encounter that make me suffer from self esteem issues related to my chest size.

But all is not lost!

I have a ‘BIG’ announcement coming soon! Stay tuned!